Firms Advised to Court
China's Nascent Middle Class

HONG KONG -- Foreign companies focused on China's most affluent consumers should lower their sights, or risk missing a vast sales opportunity, according to U.S. consultancy McKinsey & Co.

Today's blue-collar workers in China, currently ignored by most multinational companies, are set to become the biggest single consumer force in the country as they climb the income ladder, McKinsey says in a research report that challenges some...